Lone Cry for Justice
by TheDarkFragment
Summary: AU. Darkness lurks in the brightest of hearts, rapping at its confines, and sometimes, it is set free, willed to or not. The End is already inevitable, left are only the Means by which it is achieved. Contains some dark themes and the occasional extreme violence.
1. Prologue

Lone Cry for Justice

UPDATED 9/9/12: I made a major change in the style of the prologue, which won't affect the plot much, but still was important for me to do, as the first take on this prologue was, in hindsight, weak. I hope it's all better now.

Ok, just to make this clear, because some people have accused me of 'cliche-writing', the incidents described here by Naruto were the only major quarrels with the villagers and I only chose the 'Naruto gets beaten' concept, because it is easy and doesn't really have anything to do with the plot, its just for dramatic measure, the proloque is after all in ego-perspective for a reason.

The 'Naruto gets abonded by parents' is harder to excuse, because if I did explain it, I'd reveal a major plot device, but rest assured that it isn't the normal reason.

Prologue

The wind blew through the trees as I finally reached my goal. What that goal is you ask? Simple, The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Why would I want to be there? A legitimate question if you consider who I am. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, but most people are ignorant of that, most people believe Uzumaki Naruto died 3 years ago and that's how I want it to stay, for now.

The reason for me being here is to give this village its appropriate end. Just as it was founded with blood, I will be 'its executioner, leaving blood and bones in my wake. This will be my stepping stone. This is just another chapter of the great story that will one day be known all over the world. People will fear me for it, love me for it, hate me for it or respect me for it. It does not matter.

This villages history is the oldest of all the ninja village, its founding more than a century ago. Coincidentally, it will end as it started, cemented with the end of a grudge and broken by the end of a war.

But my particular distaste with this villages springs from events not that long ago. This is the spark that ignited the fire, that will consume Konoha on this last day of its existence.

-Flashback-

The earth trembled and the buildings crumbled. Something hit the ground with the force of a tsunami. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was not having a good day, in fact it was the worst since Madara Uchiha betrayed it.

The worst possible catastrophe was haunting the village, some call this vile creature a natural disaster, others call it hate incarnate, but the most well-known name for it was Kyuubi no Youko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

For almost all people, civilians and shinobis alike, it came out of the blue. Nobody could see it coming or hear its roars, not even feel its foul chakra that could normally be felt from miles away.

Three people knew the truth about its appearence though. These three people where Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, his wife Namikaze Kushina and the mastermind behind the attack, Madara Uchiha.

-0-

For Minato Namikaze the day began as one of the happiest days in his still short life. His wife, Namikaze Kushina, was going to give birth to their children today, a boy and a girl, just like he always wanted. But before that happened special preparation were neccessary, because Kushina was not a normal human, she was a Jinchuuriki, a demon container. She housed the strongest of all the Bijuu (Tailed Beasts), the Kyuubi no Youko and due to the nature of this specific demon, the seal which holds the demon, would be severely weakened. Hence, the precautions.

Everything was going smoothly, the twins where finally out of their mothers womb, after almost 10 hours of "PUSH!", but that soon went to hell when they heard a low, threatening voice say "Hand over the Jinchuuriki and your son will live longer than one minute." Everyone was startled when they heard it, Minato and Kushina had fawned over their daughter, while the nurse, who was the only other one in the sealed up cave that they had chosen for the birth, was washing their son. They noticed that the nurse had a deep gash in her throat, and standing over her dead body was a man with an orange spiral mask that only had one eyehole, and a black cloak that concealed his whole body. In his arms, resting peacefully was their son, Naruto Namikaze, and he was holding a kunai at his throat.

"Oh my god, Naruto! Don't hurt him!" gasped Kushina. Minato reached for one of his special kunai and said "Who are you and what do you want with Kushina?"

The man chuckled, "More worried about your wife than your baby I see. Very well I shall answer your question, I am Madara Uchiha and I want what's rightfully mine, the Kyuubi."

Minato's and Kushina's eyes widened and the Namikaze Clan Head positioned himself between the man and Kushina. "Thats impossible, you died in battle against the First Hokage!"

"Ha ha ha, as you can see I am very much alive and I will get what I came here for!", with that he threw Naruto in the air and dashed towards Kushina.

"Save him Minato! We will be alright" Kushina screamed and took their second child, which they had named Akane (Bright Red), before running to the exit.

Minato ran towards Naruto and caught him before he could become a blood stain on the ground and then threw his kunai to Kushina to execute his most famed technique, the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique). In a flash of yellow he was beside Kushina.

Just then Madara grabbed Kushina's right arm and yanked her towards him. In a moment of desperation she handed Akane to Minato and said, " Bring them to safety"

Minato only nodded and disappeared in yet another yellow flash, bringing the two newborns into a cottage and lying them gently in a crib. Then he activated his prized jutsu again, coming back into the cave, gone for ten seconds at most.

But the cave was deserted, save for the dead body of Biwako Sarutobi.

-0-

"So heart warming, you would have made such a good family", Madara chuckled as placed Kushina on an altar like stone.

'Sharingan', he looked her directly into the eyes and the tomoe of the "Spinning Wheel Eye" began to rotate wildly. Kushina was staring back blankly and deep within her soul a roar could be heard.

Suddenly Kushina screamed as she felt her stomach burn and a cloak of dark-red, malevolent chakra surrounded her. Behind her the chakra was gatherering and slowly the concentration increased, until you could make out a giant fox with nine tails squirming behind it.

'Oh no, I have to stop it, its going to destroy the village!' Kushina tried to stand up, but she was too exhausted. Madara laughed evilly, "How fitting for the Bijuu to kill its Jinchuuriki! Kill her, Kyuubi!"

The fox roared and brought his paw down on the injured Kushina, but when the dust cleared there was nothing there.

"I'm just in time." Minato said as he held Kushina in his arms. Madara glanced at him and shrugged, "Its futile, I have my pet now and thats all I wanted. To Konoha my loyal pet!" and he dissappeared in a swirl, while the Kyuubi puffed out of existence.

"We have to stop the fox somehow." Kushina exclaimed. Minato thought for a minute and then said, "I think I have an idea..."

-0-

A figure appeared at the gates of Konoha and calmly walked through it. The guards that tried to stop fell to the floor after a quick Sharingan induced glance.

The figure bit its thumb and performed handseals. 'Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram!'

The man slammed his hands on the ground and a giant intricate pattern appeared on the earth around him, before a grand puff of smoke covered the whole area around the gate. Out of this smoke an evil growl could be heard, then everything went to hell.

A giant fox with nine tails began to destroy anything that came into its path. The ninja of the village where quickly gathering in the townsquare from where Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage led them into battle.

"We have to stall it until the Fourth arrives!" Hiruzen shouted, and he dashed off, the transformed monkey king Enma in his hands.

After what seemed like an eternity of slaughtering, screaming and crying, a big plume of smoke once again covered the area.

In the smoke stood Gamabunta, the Boss Summon of the Toads and standing proudly on its head, with his white cloak fluttering in the wind, was the Yondaime Hokage.

"Its the Fourth"

"Finally, we are saved!"

"Destroy this damn Fox!"

Cheers erupted from the exhausted and injured ninja around Gamabunta and the Sandaime smiled when he saw his successor.

The fox snarled angrily, his Sharingan eyes boring into the fearless blue ones of Minato.

Kyuubi charged a big ball of energy at his muzzle and fired it at the village.

Minato reacted quickly, he threw his kunai in the balls trajectory and made a half-ram seal. The ball collided with the kunai and dissappeared in a flash of yellow, far away from the village a big explosion could be seen. Everyone gulped at that.

"Bunta! We have to stall it a little longer, Kushina is finishing our seal array." Minato exclaimed and Gamabunta nodded. He shot forward, his katana drawn

-0-

Kushina finished drawing a circular seal and made handseals. After one minute of constant handseals, the seals before her suddenly glowed. Before Kushina a giant circle of Kanji covered an area big enough to hold the Kyuubi. Connected to that circle were three much smaller circles and two of them where occupied by Naruto and Akane respectively. In the middle of the big circle a lone Hiraishin kunai rested, waiting to be used...and it didn't have to wait long.

In a huge yellow flash, the Kyuubi appeared in the middle of the seal array, with Minato quickly running towards Kushina, who now stood in the last circle. He executed a chain of handseals and brought his hands down on the seal.

From each smaller circle eight ropes erupted and bound the Kyuubi. The fox tried to move, but the ropes where too strong and with another chain of handseals from Minato, it slowly dissolved, while the ropes had red chakra running down to the occupants of the smaller seals, who where now all unconscious.

"Fuinjutsu: Three Gods, Eight Pillars"

Minato collapsed on the ground, succumbing to sweet uncosciousness, a smile on his face. He did it! He saved the village AND his family.

-Flashback end-

And so, Minato Namikaze became the most celebrated hero in the history of the village. He suddenly was even more of a role model than before. A hero who had killed hundreds of Iwa nin in the span of one minute, with the fact that he almost died after that only adding more to his heroism. A hero who had defeated the strongest Bijuu alive, a man of honor and valor.

He split the very being of Kyuubi into three parts, soul, Yin, and Yang, and imprisoned them in three humans.

I was imbued with the soul, my sister with the Yin and my mother with the Yang. You may wonder why my father would split the Fox into three parts, the answer is simple. My mother was on the verge of death and only the Kyuubi's inhuman healing could save her, but sealing the entirety of the demon or just splitting it in two would have needed the Dead Demon Consuming seal, which offers the Shinigami the soul of the summoner in exchange for a favor. He chose a century old Trap Seal, which was used to seal the Bijuu in the old days. There where only two requirements, the seal was as intricate as can be, so it needed a Seal Master of the highest degree to draw it. The other requirement was that it could only be drawn in blood that was in contact with active chakra, meaning ninja blood. The blood Kushina used was that of the nurse, Biwako Sarutobi. Then there was the problem of getting the Bijuu inside the sealing array, which eventually was the reason the Seal was abolished, as many ninja died in the process. With the Hiraishin though, it was painfully easy for my father to succeed.

Were was I now? Ah, yes, how it came to this day. After the new hero Minato sealed the fox, he faced the citizens of Konoha, who were much smaller in number after the attack. And so, the tale of Kyuubi no Yokou's defeat was woven, its string made of lies and the loom demented by the power. That day became monumental in Konohas History, as well as the speech given that day.

-Flashback-

"People of Konoha! Today was one of the worst days in our history, never have we lost so much. So many brave ninja who protected their charges died today. So many proud citizens lost their lifes to the evil that tried to annihilate us all. So many innocent women and children suffered from this disaster that threatened to consume us. But now comes a time of hope and prospering that we all crave for, because today, trough our combined effort, we defeated the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. With the help of all of you, I managed to seal away the immortal being."

He held up his daughter while his wife stood beside him, their son in her arms.

"With the help of an ancient Seal I managed to split the Kyuubi into Yin, Yang and soul and banish it into my daughter Akane, my wife Kushina and my son, Naruto respectively! Never again will this vile beast attack our village!"

The crowd was ecstatic, though many frowned upon Naruto, but it went unnoticed by the people who were celebrating their survival or mourning their lost ones.

Minato smiled at the villagers one last time and then went into the Hokage tower to spend some well deserved time with his family.

-Flashback end-

If you asked anyone present that day, he would say it was a heart-warming speech. But it was delivered by someone so unfamiliar to that concept, that it seemed the Universe had a really dark sense of humor. It was indeed a great time after the Fox had been banished. It was very easy for Minato to forge the people of Konoha into his own little herd of sheep, ninja notwithstanding, as they are a bigoted lot, always thinking about themselves, nothing much to see of the love and harmony principle, upon which Konoha was built and which it preached to the other nations.

It wasn't long after the defeat of the Demon that they began to wonder about the words of their Hokage, more specifically about the part of me being the container for its soul. Would it be clever to leave the Kyuubi's soul wandering through the village or let it near the containers of its power, was what they thought. The people of Konoha, secretly herded by their Shepherd, went to said Shepherd to utter their worries and fears, clumsily hiding them as concern for the well-being of the Hokages family, but not only the sheep came to that conclusion, to the joy of the Shepherd. Most of the council was sane enough to think better, but not everyone.

I was sent to an orphanage in the outer skirts and with much fighting they accepted me. My life in the orphanage from what I can remember was the worst time of my life.

First I thought it was normal for me to be ignored, to have less to eat then the others, to lack proper toys, but that was because they kept me in the cellar, so that no one could see the shame of the orphanage. But spite and anger, distrust and hate were not the only emotions they had regarding me, one reigned supreme over them all.

Fear.

That fear was what drove them to leave me out of the cellar, and not let me back in the orphanage.

So I had been abandoned to the even harsher terrain of the streets, but it was better than the cellar, because of one major difference. I had freedom. The world, or at least the village, lay at my feet. No one would stop me from stealing food, stealing books, scrolls and ink, stealing gear. No one would stop me, because no one saw me. I was just another street urchin, nothing to be too concerned about. So the rumors of the "Fox Brat" faded into murmurs and eventually died.

I would not be noticed until almost a year after first setting foot on the streets.

And by the most curious person, too.

TBC

First story and all that shit, be nice and review...or don't, that "TBC" is just for show, I don't know if I will continue this story, it just sort of appeared in my mind. Maybe if it gets good reviews... if not then your loss I guess.

See ya...maybe.


	2. Chapter 1 Forging Darkness

I know, i know, it was a long time and all, but GUESS WHAT? EXAMS ARE OVER, ANNIHILATED, DESTROYED, now I can finally get high again! Oh and write fanfiction of course, here ya go.

Chapter 1: Forging Darkness

-Flashback-

Naruto stared in front of him, confusion written on his face. This girl... This girl with the shiny red hair. This girl with the two sea-blue mirrors of the soul. This girl that seemed to have an air of love and good-will about her, tempered with enough power to eradicate a whole district. She seemed like a flood light in the dark, hate-filled mind that Naruto called his own. And yet... there was something wrong with this picture, like something was missing. Something important, but Naruto could not grasp that tiny little thing that screamed 'wrong' at the top of its lungs.

The girl stared at him. It made Naruto uncomfortable. These bright eyes that shone with happiness staring into his sorrowed, hurt eyes.

It was wrong.

It made him sad.

It made him angry.

Naruto knew that he was different from all the others. That there was something about him that didn't fit into the neat society of the Hidden Leaf. Naruto was smart, very smart. A genius that's only born every hundred years. It made him perceptive beyond believe.

He often heard adults talking, even though he couldn't see them, of course, he was locked up in his 'room' afterall. But their insults got through to him. 'Kyuubi brat' they called him, 'monster, demon, menace, scum, freak' you name it.

At the age of one, Naruto didn't understand why noone was there to feed and comfort him. At the age of two, Naruto didn't undestand why nobody brought him anything to play with or talked _to _him and not _about _him. At the age of three, Naruto didn't understand why he would be in pain, why they were laughing at him, insulting him. But at the age of four, he understood. He understood the hate that people had for him, he understood why they made him go through so much pain, he understood what he was.

He understood it and he hated it, he hated them.

So now he was facing this annoying girl, that was too happy. She looked as if she had everything in life. Her clothing were expencieve. She wore a light green kimono with pink falling sakura petals on it. It was so unlike his own clothing, which consisted of a dirty white t-shirt and ripped pants.

There was also the tell tale sign of nobility, not just from the clothing she wore, but also how she now graciously moved towards him.

His heart began to beat. What did she want? Was she going to hit him? Make him quiver in pain like everyone else seemingly does? What did he do to deserve this? But no, she would not hit him, the little children in the orphanage never did.

But why else would she go to him, **him **of all people. He was the carrier of Kyuubi no Yokou's soul. It made him evil. There was always the chance of him getting controlled by the Kyuubi and slaughtering the whole village, how he would do that without the Kyuubi's power he did not know. But it didn't matter, the adults said he should be punished for his crimes and the adults were always right. Right?

Wrong. Naruto realized quickly that he was an exception, while other kids were treated with love was treated with pain. It was basically his life, the pain, the hate, the sorrow, and it made him stronger, it made him understand the world and how it really is.

The red-haired girl continued to walk towards him, he could see her trembling and eyes seemed to tear up. There it was again, that uncertainty, what did she want? Pity him? Yeah right, but why else would she cry?

She was now just severel meters away from Naruto and inspected him. His tattered clothes fluttered in the wind exposing bruised and cut skin, with dryed up blood still in his body. Her eyes widened and now she really seemed to want to cry.

She reached towards Naruto with a shaky hand and touched his cheek, while Naruto stood there frozen, not used to contact like this and utterly lost about what was happening.

"Brother?" She asked in a child-like voice.

-0-

She sat on her bed, wrapped up in her blankets. Her room was painted a nice light blue, she had a desk next to her bed, a huge cupboard for clothes oppsite of the bed and a big area for playing. The room was also huge, much too big for one four-year-old.

And thats exactly what she was thinking about, she was the only four-year-old in this room, in this house infact.

Earlier today she had a strange encounter. She met a boy, by the looks of it he was as old as she was, but horribly malnourished. He stared at her, and she stared back, it had felt as if they were like that for hours.

She remembered his sad eyes, staring at her with longing in them and she felt a rush of pity form inside of her.

She had seen his clothes, his dirty body, his bruises... His barely concealed body had been covered in injuries, probably more than he cared to count. He looked like he was tortured for information on some important and high bounty.

She knew who he was, who he should be and who he isn't. He was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, her brother, her _dead _brother. Her parents told her that, that he died in childbirth, that only she survived.

But it is said that twins share a special bond, one that cannot be broken. And through that bond -though she doesn't know of it- she felt that he was her brother.

She didn't understand what was going on, why was he alone and not with them? Why was he hurt? Why was he on the street? It didn't make sense, but she wanted to know the truth and there was only one way for her to find it out, her parents. They would have the answers, because adults were always right. Right?

She heard a knock on her door, "Akane, sweety, can I come in?"

Think of the devil...that was her mother.

"Come in, mom" Akane replied.

Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze walked into her daughters room and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Can I talk to you about something?" The older of the two asked.

"Ok, what is it?" Akane answered, although she already knew what this would be about.

"I wanted to ask why you ran off today and where you were, I was very worried when you weren't at my side anymore."

Should she tell the truth or lie? Kushina wouldn't like it if Akane told her she met her homeless, malnutritioned, lost, abandoned, helpless and very much alive brother. No, it was already decided what she would answer.

"I already told you mommy, I don't know how I got there, I was lost. But I found you again, didn't I? I'm a good girl." She told her mother.

Kushina visibly relaxed and smiled down at her daughter. She stroked her cheek and gave her a kiss on her forehead, "Yes, you're a good girl and good girls must sleep now, so goodnight. I think I heard your father come home, I'm going to talk to him."

"Night, mommy." Akane muttered and turned around in her bed, but didn't close her eyes. She listened to Kushina leaving the room and heard her talking to Minato. _Now is my chance._

Akane unwrapped her body from her sheets and tip-toed to the door, she opened it without a sound and sneaked down to the kitchen were she heard her parents talking. She went up to the door and pressed an ear against it.

"...can't let her go around alone..."

"...what if he is out there somewhere it would be disastrous..."

"...should have killed him."

Akane listened to her father talking and it wasn't very hard to guess who they were talking about. She wanted to cry, why was her father doing this? What did Naruto do to deserve this? It sounded like Kushina was already crying, but Minato apparently didn't notice and went on.

"He is a menace to Konoha and its citizens, to my dream, my vision..."

"We have to make sure they don't meet, I'm sure someone or something will somehow dispose of him, he's only 4 years old."

"I will start training Akane tomorrow to keep her occupied..."

Akane couldn't take it anymore and she went up to her room and her bed to cry herself to sleep.

-Flashback end-

A figure stood there in the darkness of the night, unmoving in the howling wind. The grass around it swayed, bathing in the dim moonlight.

The figure wore a black-red cloak, which was wrapped around his whole body, even his lower face. On its head, the figure wore a strawhat, which had lines of cloth hanging on it, hiding any aspect of its wearer that wasn't hidden by the cloak.

The creature was standing there apparently waiting and tired of it, although it was hard to see 'its impatience.

Suddenly there was a sound somewhere behind the bushes in front of the figure and another shape moved out of it. The new figure went up to the first one and bowed before it.

Not much longer and another one came, followed by the last one. They all bowed before the one with the strawhat and chorused: "Leader-sama!"

"**Rise,**" A voice that came from the Leader said, it chilled all the others there with its intensity and coldness. "**what news do you have?**"

The first one who appeared stepped forward and began, "Leader-sama, we'll all graduate soon, my mother is still reluctant, but she will not talk of our plans.

I will probably be placed on the team under Hatake, we'll be able to monitor him and report to you when he is vulnerable."

"**Good, I will await your next report, you will be suffitiently rewarded**"

When the first stepped back, another one took his place.

"Boss, I have info on them, they are suspicious of her and have made sure I have the least contact with her as possible, it will be hard to get info on them in the future. I did gather that she is crying much lately. what are your orders regarding me? Do you want your rightful place back?"

"**No not yet, but soon we will move, and nothing will stop us**." The deep voice answered and chuckled darkly. _Of course she's crying, it makes perfect sense._

The last figure now began, "Leader-sama, he is not suspecting me in the slightest, but he is tightening the security around the village, no doubt having heard about your recent doings. In three months will be the Chuunin Exams and he is planning something there, I dont know what, yet."

"**Continue your job, try finding out about the Chuunin Exams. Your payment is already in your apartment. Now, dismissed!**"

The three spies left the first figure alone again. He pondered what he heard, it was fitting into his plans so there wasn't a problem, but the news about the Chuunin Exams unnerved him and had him on edge. Therefore it was no surprise that he suddenly vanished when he detected someone else in the area.

He reappeared behind the shadow that was spying on him and held a dagger at the throat of his interloper.

"Still as good as ever I see," a melodic voice said from behind a black hood, "now would you please put that nasty toy away?"

Leader sheathed his dagger and stepped back, letting the person in front of him turn around and face him. She wore a pitch-black cloak with the hood up, making her almost invisible in the night, if it weren't for her glowing eyes.

"How was your little trip?" She asked.

"**I have gathered the allies and resources necessary.**" The cold voice of Leader answered.

"Thats great to hear, now let me accompany you to your accomodations."

End of chapter

Wow, that was really hard to write, adding the exams to it. I think I did a good job in the end, although there will be some haters of course, but i don't give a shit. If you have ideas then pm me. You can also suggest pairings, but I've decide there will be no polygamy here so only one please.

Thats it,

See ya.

PS: Next chapter won't take so long.


	3. Chapter 2 Machination on Graduation

Hey, whats up?

Hehe, sorry for the wait I guess, I thought you knew the P.S. was a lie...

Oh yeah, what I wanted to ask...WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

NO, NARUTO WILL NOT FUCK HIS MOTHER OR SISTER...

But, seriously, I don't write incest, I like some kinks, but thats sick.

Oh, and no Hinata too, I hate Hinata, if you are a HinaNaru fanboy/girl and want NaruHina in this fic then f*ck off and read one of the millions of Hinata fics out there...

So, I'm starting a poll to get this shit over with, romance won't be that big of an aspect anyway. Your choices will be:

Ayame

Yugito

Fuu

Mei Terumi (she would be younger then)

Also, as you may have realized by now, I don't update that often or frequently, because I write this for my own enjoyment and there are times I just don't want to write...

Anyway, lets get on with this shit!

Chapter 2: Machination on Graduation

Naruto Uzumaki was maybe one of the most famous Academy students in Konoha, only exceeded by one Sasuke Uchiha, who had practically every kunoichi younger than 13 after his fam- err good looks. Naruto was many things, funny, stupid, naive, short-tempered, hot-headed, kindhearted, tricky, sneaky and strong. This long list was second only to his names and titles, which were truly a lot. He was known as a prankster, a joker, a fighter, a jester, a fox, a pariah, a menace, a monster, a demon and more. Overall you could classify his reputation as 'infamous'. And that is exactly why the people glared at him now, when he was walking down the street, whistling an unknown tune.

He was dressed in a hideous orange outfit that included blue shinobi sandals, orange pants, a blue-orange jacket and goggles on his head. On his thigh he had a holster that was filled with malfactured kunai and shuriken.

Naruto was on his way to the -finally- last day at the Ninja Academy. He was 12 years old, like the rest of his peers and was sick of the books and history lessons.

_Finally I can end this farce, it has gone long enough, I wouldn't even be here were it not for this thrice damned mission. _Naruto thought as he was passing another sneering civilian.

_I'm fucking fed up with these pieces of walking shit, sneering at me like I'm some god damned zoo animal, but they'll fucking pay, all of these bastards. _Were his thoughts as he finally arrived at the Academy, wearing his stupid grin.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Yelled his teacher, a brown haired man with a horizontal scar on his face, which ran right over his nose. His name was Iruka.

"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei, I didn't hear my alarm." Naruto answered, with his goofy grin still in place.

"Idiot," an exasperated Iruka said, shaking his head and looking at the list he held, "I will call you in alphabetical order and you will be tested in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu by my assistant Mizuki and me. First one, Akimichi Choji."

A fat kid with brown hair and red swirls on his cheeks walked through the door and to his test. _At least there's no written test, that would have sucked. _Naruto thought as he watched Choji disappear through the door.

Naruto was slowly getting bored, being the second last on a list did that to you. Iruka was now on 'N' and Naruto perked up at the name that was called out.

"Namikaze Akane" Iruka calmy said, waiting at the door.

A girl of 12 years stood up and walked through the rows of chairs to the front. She had flaming red hair, that went down to her waist and was tied into a ponytail. Her sea-blue eyes had a bored look in them and she didn't seem to care that almost every boy was staring at her longingly.

'Sister dear looks like she'd rather listen to old Sarutobi's stories than take this test and thats saying something considering what I heard of these sleep inducing fairytails, dragons and Dragonborns, pfff.' Naruto thought, looking at his sisters retreating back.

Another boring hour later it was finally Naruto's turn and there were many whispers when his name was called, such as "freak, unnatural, ugly, orange...", but Naruto didn't pay them any mind, he expected it and was used to it. He shut the door behind him and looked at his teachers expectantly, Iruka cleared his throat.

-0-

"Were the fuck is this retard?" A loud voice asked. It came from the end of the corridor Kakashi was just strolling through. He was walking very slowly – a snail just passed him - with his head buried in his novel, though it wasn't much of a novel at all...

"He's supposed to be a ninja, if I were his target he has to eliminate, I would already be way past the border and he'd be the sucker!" A sweat drop was slowly making its way through Kakashi's white hair. 'He's got a point there...' he thought.

Kakashi was now almost at the end of the corridor and slowly approached the door. "I swear if he doesn't get here in 5 minutes, things are gonna get foxy.(1)"

'Oh fuck, better come in now' Kakashi thought.

Four minutes later Kakashi's hand was on the handle of the door. He still held his book 10cm in front of his face and his hand pressed down the handle with only 10 seconds left.

'Time to face the music.'

* Click *

"YOU MOTHERFUCKING BASTARD, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR STUPID ASS, WE WAITED FOR FOUR FUCKING HOURS!" A blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid in an orange jumpsuit screamed at him. In the background he could see two equally pissed individuals, though they were not as outspoken as the young man in front of him.

He sighed to himself as the blonde in front of him ranted on and on, thinking about his bad luck. He had the worst team imaginable, even worse than what the Sannin once were, when they were young.

First was the silent and brooding avenger, who swore on the grave of his father that he would kill his demented brother, who killed off all of his clan except his mother. He would be a pain in the ass to snap out of his revenge and would have questionable loyalties already if it weren't for his mother.

Second was the bane of everyone with functioning ears and intact sanity, the girl, who had pink hair and wore a red dress of all things, was a fangirl of unparalleled proportions, with the single purpose of getting the Uchiha to allow her to bear his children. Aside from that, she also probably had her picture under the word 'useless' in the lexicon, with practically no fighting skills to speak of and an ego that would probably get her killed, or worse, captured and used as a hostage.

The last member of his team was, at first glance, almost as useless as Sakura, but that was far from the truth. His records at the academy said that he was average at Taijutsu, having very much stamina to help him in that department, but no real technique or even talent. His Genjutsu wasn't even mentionable, as he would probably die, if he ever encountered one on a mission. Lastly, his Ninjutsu was slightly above average, because of his limitless chakra, but lacking skill.

But that was the Academy reviewing his level and Kakashi wouldn't be so stupid to actually believe that those scores were correct. For Kakashi Naruto was the biggest mystery out of the three. He never really acted out of line and was mostly happy and content, but Kakashi was clever enough and had the knowledge to conclude that the supposed 'happiness' of Naruto Uzumaki was a false pretense, but what was even more confusing was what was under his mask. One would think -if they knew as much as Kakashi did- that he would be sad and lonely and generally not very high spirited, but that wasn't the case. In the few times Kakashi was able to see past the boys wrong face, he saw only one thing... and that was utter boredom. That unnerved him.

-0-

"Okay team, we'll start of with introductions, you know? Name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams and goals. You first, bubblegum."

Sakura scowled at the nickname and retorted, "Can you start, sensei? So we know how to do it?"

_Honestly how dumb can one be? He was asking for a fucking introduction not some algebra shit, how did she ever get highest marks on the written test?_Naruto thought as he looked at Sakura with contempt.

"Okay, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are not for young ears such as yours, my dislikes don't exist because I'm too lazy to have them. My hobby is to annoy little Genin and my dream is to annoy you so much that you quit being a ninja. Your turn, pinky."

The three wannabe Genin sweatdropped, but left it at that. Sakura began, "My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are...", she looked at Sasuke and giggled, "my dislikes are Ino-Pig and Naruto! My hobbies are...", again, she glanced towards Sasuke, "my dream for the future...", she blushed and giggled, content to be in her own little world.

_Now that was useless, _all the others thought.

"Okay, moving on, go ahead, goth queen." Sasuke ignored the nickname and positioned himself to look as cool as possible.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I have no likes and many dislikes, my hobby is training and my dream- no, my goal...-no, my ambition is to kill a certain man and restore the honor of my clan."

Sakura had hearts in her eyes, while Naruto just yawned. Kakashi cleared his throat and pointed at Naruto. "Your turn, blondie."

"My name is Naruto, my likes are eating...pocky, my dislikes are too many to count, much less tell. My hobby is to train and my goals are my own."

"Fair enough, now we will meet tomorrow at 6 am for a survival test. You see only 66% of the graduating students become Genin." Kakashi said and waited for the explosion.

"WHAAAT? YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO PASS ANOTHER TEST AND AREN'T EVEN GENIN YET?" Sakura screeched.

Everyone present winced at the volume and pitch of her voice and Naruto's hand even twitched towards his kunai pouch.

_Wow, is that some kind of jutsu? I can't hear anymore, maybe she is a spy from that new village that was recently revealed to the world. _The silver-haired Jonin thought.

As Kakashi tried to regain his hearing with Sakura still shouting, Naruto looked at the Jonin through contemplative eyes. _So they weed out the trash with the first exam and then look for potential in the second, it doesn't matter I have Uchiha on my team, so there should be no problem._

When Kakashi finally could hear again and shut up Sakura, he continued, "I want you to bring all the gear you think is necessary and be prepared for battle, also, I would advise you to eat breakfast, raw stomach acid is not very good for your teeth." With that he disappeared in a plume of smoke.

-0-

It was still very early the next day, when Naruto awoke from his slumber to ready himself for the upcoming test. He already knew what was on it through a little research and spying, he was not impressed.

The bell test was simple and not very ingenious, for there is no way three freshly graduated Genin, with their egos stroked high and minds clouded by arrogance and pride, to put away their own goals for their teammates. Especially when they didn't like each other, which was exactly the case with Team 7.

Sasuke hated Sakura and didn't care for Naruto, while Sakura was overly infatuated with Sasuke and hated Naruto's guts. Naruto...well, he didn't care for anybody... as far as the people around him could tell.

_Might as well go down to the shady business._ Naruto thought as he brushed his teeth. _Today is ,after all, the day the mask falls._

-0-

Approximately ten kilometers away from Naruto's current location, a clone of said person was sticking to a wall, a wall which was painted red.

Four faces were carved into the mountain the clone was standing on. The first was of the First Hokage and had red cheeks, purple lips and looked very female overall. It was winking every now and then. The second face was that of the Second Hokage. He had blue paint running down his green eyes, which looked like teardrops and a tongue was sticking out of his mouth. His hair was a dull red and he also had red cheeks. Sometimes he would roll his eyes in a random way. Oddly enough, the third face, that of the Third Hokage, was not painted at all, but the fourth face, which was dedicated to none other than the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, defeater of the Kyuubi no Youko, Minato Namikaze, was the worst.

His face also had teardrops running down his cheeks and his mouth was extended by red paint, looking like his mouth was cut wider. The whole face was pale and the hair was an ugly shade of green. Lastly, the area around his eyes was painted black.

That was how the citizens of Konoha saw the Hokage Monument when they woke up. Panic spread through the village like a fire and ninja gathered on the Hokage Tower. Leading them all was one Namikaze Minato, who was seething, looking up at his disfigured face on the mountain.

The clone was long dispelled, his work was done.

-0-

Chuckling at the ninja gathered on the Hokage Tower, Naruto quietly slid through the window in the Hokage office. He glanced around to located any traps and disabled the ones he found. Then he made his way to the desk and pressed a button beneath it.

On the wall the picture of Minato opened slowly and Naruto emptied it all. He quickly searched through the documents and raised an eyebrow at all the shady business going on in the village.

When he found the documents he was looking for, he quickly copied all of it on a scroll and put everything back in order. Then he walked over to another part of the wall and opened a hidden closet.

In the closet was a big scroll, the Scroll of Sealing. Again Naruto copied everything he wanted and put the scroll back.

He was out again, with the whole procedure only taking seven minutes.

-0-

After a well deserved breakfast at the only store that would sell him anything, Naruto made his way to the spot Kakashi mentioned the day before, to take the bell test. He found his two teammates looking dead tired, but anxious to begin and no Sensei anywhere in sight.

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at him, only for their eyes to widen in surprise. Naruto's attire was miles away from the orange jumpsuit he had always worn before. He wore black shinobi style pants with two pockets for any ninja gadgets he might come across and black boots, that didn't look suitable for ninja. His torso was covered by a black muscle shirt and over it, he wore a black-red jacket. His lower face, from nose to jawline, was covered by a black mask similar to Kakashis and his headband was tied around his neck, letting his hair fall down freely and frame his face.

Recovering from his shock, Sasuke sat back again and continued to brood, and seeing no reaction from her crush, Sakura also calmed down and didn't confront Naruto about his new look.

It was one hour later that their sensei arrived, with the excuse that he met a flower girl, who was chased by some samurai, so he had to save her, but then a kid with spiky blond hair and a big sword appeared and took the flower girl away and when he followed, he saw them together with a big black guy, a cat riding a...thing and a red dog, then he had to go all the way back which was about 10 kilometers.

After facepalming because of the excuse Naruto asked, "So what is this test about, sensei?"

Kakashi turned serious and began to explain the test to them, with Sakura being outraged after he revealed only two bells.

"To pass this test, you have to give it your all, and come at me with the intent to kill. And don't be stupid, I'm a Jonin for a reason, I will be able to handle three fresh Genin." He added, when he saw Sakura about to protest.

"We will begin when I press the button on this clock." Kakashi said, placing a clock on one of the training logs, that stood in the clearing. He waited a few seconds and then pressed the button.

"GO!"

End of Chapter

A random catchphrase I thought of

I dont even know myself how the jacket should look in detail, but thats what imagination is for...

Sooo, next up will be my first real fight scene, or scenes actually...I probably suck at it. The next Chapter will cover the very short version of the bell test and then a mission, to Wave? Who knows...

Fun fact: My plan for this chapter was actually: Graduation, Bell test, 1st Mission, mysterious plot twist and beginning of the chuunin exams... well you can see how that worked out...

I'll try not to bore you with too much canon. There will be two parts (or more later) in this story, the first is relatively canon orientated, the second part which will be much longer than the first part (or sectioned into smaller parts) is were the real story starts. _Hint, hint..._

Please participate in the poll, or there will be no pairing, which I am totally fine with. Its your call.

See ya.


	4. Chapter 3 Sinister Dawn

"Heeeeelloo folks! I'm sorry to say this, but this chapter will be short, considering that by the time you read this I'm probably already half the way to Austria." - CUT! That was four weeks ago... sorry, hehe. Guess I just lack the drive to finish a chapter in 5 hours. Anyway, here's what I wrote for that AN...

"So yesterday I re-read the second chapter of 'Way of the Rattlesnake' by Darthemius (great author, check out his 2 stories) and since the original idea for this story came from WotR I decided to take the copying one step further and do profiles for the major characters in this story like in WotR. Oh and I forgot that in my previous chapters but:

I do not own anything recognizable in this story, just part of the plot."

**Naruto Namikaze/Uzumaki**

Character: Naruto Uzumaki was left in an Orphanage by his parents Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki/Namikaze Kushina at the age of six months. Since then he has grown resentful towards his home village and especially, his parents, though he doesn't show it at all. In the plublic eye, he is very dense and unaware of his heritage or his special tenant, the Kyuubi's soul, which was the reason for his misery. He has a bad swearing problem, but otherwise seems always happy.

Specification: Ninjutsu, traps, ?

Special Abilities: Pseudo-Jinchuuriki, ?

Strenght: A-Rank

Goal(s): currently unknown

**Namikaze Akane**

Character: Akane is the only daughter, and in the public eye only child, of the Yondaime Hokage. She always got what she wanted and has a very deep relationship with her mother, not so much with her father. She is generally kind and gentle, but can be fierce and vengeful, too.

Specification: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu

Special Abilities: Jinchuuriki

Strength: B-Rank

Goal(s): Support her brother in any way she can

**Sasuke Uchiha**

Character: As the last loyal male Uchiha, a heavy burden rests on his shoulder, which he is reminded of at all time by the villagers, who treat him like a god on earth and the ninja, who all want his favor. He is generally broody and quiet, which is a result of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, in which every Uchiha except his Mother and Brother were killed. He thirsts for revenge against the killer of his clan.

Specification: Ninjutsu

Special Abilities: Sharingan

Strength: C-Rank

Goal(s): Revenge for his Clan and the restoration of its honor

**Kushina Uzumaki/Namikaze**

Character: As the wife of the Hokage, she receives the respect and admiration from the villagers and ninja and many say that this has gone to her head. She is hotheaded and fiery, mostly expressed in her hate against perverts. Since she married Minato, she has changed much and became colder and colder on the surface.

Specification: Ninjutsu, Kenjutsu

Special Abilities: Jinchuuriki

Strength: S-Rank

Goal(s): Support her husband and by default, the village of Konoha

**Minato Namikaze**

Character: Minato was always a little bit cold, but he loved his family more than anything, a fact he proved wrong when he abandoned his son, because of 'village security'. Minato is a strong and gentle leader on the surface, but has a cold core inside his shell, the opposite of Kushina.

Specification: Ninjutsu, Fuinjutsu

Special Abilities: Flying Thundergod Technique

Strength: SS-Rank

Goal(s): Bring Konohagakure to glory and expand his area of influence

**Madara Uchiha**

Not much is known about him, except that he is a prime example of the hatred and vengefulness of the Uchiha Clan and will stop at nothing to realize his goals.

Specification: Ninjutsu, Space-Time Jutsu, Genjutsu

Special Abilities: Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan

Strength: SS-Rank

Goal(s): Currently unknown

Chapter 3: Sinister Dawn

Naruto quickly charged Kakashi to deliver a punch with his right fist, but was stopped when Kakashi caught his arm and threw him into a nearby tree.

"My, my, you shouldn't ru-" Kakashi began, but stopped when 'Naruto' disappeared in a plume of smoke. _How can he know that jutsu? Who taught him? I guess I was right, he's way more than everyone thinks._

Kakashi looked around, but didn't find anyone. _They're all hidden, good. Sakura is in that tree to the right, Sasuke is in the canopy of the tree behind me and Naruto... Shit!_

The ground under Kakashi burst open to reveal Naruto already positioned for an uppercut. This time Kakashi did not have the time to dodge and was hit square in the jaw.

Before Naruto could celebrate his successful sneak attack on their sensei, Kakashi also burst into smoke.

He reappeared behind Naruto, hands already in a seal, but Naruto turned around with a sweep kick, which was blocked by Kakashi's metal plate gloves. Naruto made a handseal and Kakashi prepared to defend against anything that might come, but was disappointed, nothing happened...to him.

"Now, Kakashi, lets have a talk, shall we?" Naruto said, relaxing his body.

_What's this about? _Kakashi thought.

"I understand that there is a Chuunin Exam coming to Konoha in about three months. Will our team be entered by any chance?" Naruto went on, ignoring Kakashi's questioning look. "I have discovered, that there will be something dirty going on."

Kakashi's eye widened at that. _He couldn't have found out about it?_

"What are you playing at?" The sharingan wielder asked, readying himself for a fight.

"Simple, I want to know your side, of course." Naruto replied, before he dashed off to the side and threw a dozen of kunai at Kakashi, already forming handseals.

Kakashi threw his own kunai, but Naruto finished his handseals and his kunai multiplied by ten. Kakashi was elusive, but not even he could dodge a hundred and twenty kunai, so he did the next best thing.

**Wind Style: Gale Palm**! Kakashi thrust his hand in front of him and released a big gust of wind at the kunai.

Unforetunatly, Naruto planned ahead for something like this, he made a single handed ram seal and all the explosive tags on the kunai, fueled by Kakashi's wind jutsu, exploded in a giant ball of fire that swallowed both of the fighters.

The smoke cleared to reveal two figures standing on opposite sides, watching the other. One had blue eyes, the other had a brown one and a blazing red one.

"Finally showing why your name is Sharingan no Kakashi? Good." Naruto said, still in a defensive position.

"Why don't you end this little game?" Kakashi replied, in a bored manner.

"Ahh, so you finally noticed? Must be the Sharingan. I'm afraid we'll have to pretend a little longer, I don't want any bugs to listen in on us. I'm still waiting for an answer."

Naruto stared at Kakashi with impassive eyes as he waited for Kakashi to formulate an answer. Slowly, Kakashi lowered his headband, until it hid his Sharingan eye again.

"My loyalties always were with my godson, even when he didn't notice it. This place has done far too much for forgiveness. I'm sorry, sensei." The last words were only whispered, but still found their way to Naruto's ears.

"I'm sorry it has come to this, I never wanted to drag you into this, Inu" Again, the last word was only whispered, but this time it stayed with the speaker.

Naruto waited a moment for Kakashi to pull himself together and then started again, now in a more business-like voice, "In approximately one month, a mission will be brought to Konoha Administration. You will accept that mission for our team. The mission will be simple, a few rogue ninja will have raided a village and we are to investigate and possibly exterminate the threat. On this mission you will meet my Leader. He will give you your instructions. Understood?"

"Fine, so you're not the one pulling the strings in this?" Kakashi sighed, _did I __make the right choice? It doesn't matter, I can't let sensei go on like that and I will not let them kill my godson!_

"You could say that..." Naruto replied cryptically.

"I think we should get this test over with, this has been long enough." Kakashi said, forming a ram seal, _**kai**__. _

The Genjutsu around them fell to pieces and revealed an undamaged clearing and one confused Gennin watching their sensei and teammate stare at each other. _Huh, where is the other o- fuck! _

For the second time that morning, the ground underneath Kakashi broke apart to reveal one of his Gennin ready to make a dent in his face.

The gray-haired Jonin quickly blocked Sasuke's uppercut and flipped back to gain some ground, but that was not to be, because Sasuke quickly followed Kakashi and delivered a right hook to his face, which was blocked again.

While Sasuke engaged Kakashi in a Taijutsu battle, Naruto prepared some traps for their Jonin to be lead in. Then Naruto joined the battle himself, going in with a haymaker that almost connected, had Kakashi not shifted his weight and dodged to the right. Sasuke was on him again in an instant and continued to deck Kakashi in punches that he could barely block.

"Sasuke, duck!" Naruto screamed, before he threw a volley of shuriken at the two fighters. Thankfully, Sasuke ducked in time, but Kakashi wasn't so lucky. He also tried to dodge, by jumping backwards. Unfortunately for him, he jumped right into the trap Naruto set up beforehand. The last thought going through his mind, before he was hit by dozens of kunai and shuriken was, _OH FUCK!_

-0-

At an unknown location a man was patiently waiting for his spy to come and report. The man had long black hair and a smile that would put every loving mother off and make her want to protect her child.

He was already waiting for half an hour, his spy was late.

"Hello, old comrade." A voice from somewhere called.

"Oh, to what do I owe the pleasure, my friend...?" He answered the voice.

Suddenly, a man materialized before the first man, clad in a black robe with the hood up, concealing any feature one might use to identify the person.

"I could your little rat...Orochimaru." Said the man in a low voice.

"Oh, did you now? How amusing. What did you do to poor little Kabuto?" One could hear from Orochimaru's voice, that he didn't care about this 'Kabuto' at all.

"Nothing much, don't worry about him now, I have something more important to discuss, than your little experiments."

The Snake Sennin's eyes narrowed and he was getting ready to strike.

"Relax, I know about your little invasion, I want you to stop it."

"Oh, and why would I do that?" Yellow slitted eyes stared at the person opposite of them, sparkling dangerously.

"I also know what you want to accomplish with your uprising, the Sharingan. I offer you one Uchiha Sasuke in return for your stopping the invasion, no questions asked. I'll even throw in a little bonus, I'm preparing to have the female impregnated to revive the clan. I'll give you one Uchiha every three years for your cooperation -yes I know about your Jutsu, too. So, how about it?"

"You've got yourself a deal, Minato-kun. Kukukukuku." The pale man laughed madly, while Minato smirked behind his mask. _Everything is going according to the plan._

-0-

A black-haired teenager walked through streets, that looked like they belonged into a high-class district, with his hands in his pockets, looking gloomy overall.

His hair stuck out on the back of his head, making it look like the butt of a duck. He was scowling at the few people who passed him, all with kind smiles on their faces. _So annoying, I can't stand this village, I wish we would hurry the fuck up with this supposed plan._

The teen now reached a fancy looking gate, that had a red and white fan on it, a few cracks were running over the stone parts of it. _This place is a dump, I hate it._

It was true, all around the teen, who now entered the district of his old clan, signs of erosion could be seen and the plant life was already trying to take back 'its territory by climbing the walls of deserted houses and shops.

The black haired boy was slowly making his way towards a big mansion that was located at the center of a square, easy to defend. This mansion was once the pride of the Uchiha clan, but it too showed that time didn't wait for the clan to recover. Now, it was residence to the last two loyal Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha and her son, Sasuke, who was now opening the door.

"I'm home, mom." Sasuke called out to the seemingly abandoned, but abnormally clean house. A woman in her thirties came out of the kitchen, a kind, but strained smile on her face.

"Dinner is already made, dear." She said, with a melodic voice. Sasuke just grunted and followed her into the kitchen to eat a meal well deserved, after the training he had gone through by the hands of his new Sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

"So, how was the team meeting today?" Mikoto asked, while she put food on her and Sasuke's plate.

"It was ok, Naruto was an idiot as usual and Sakura a pain in the ass, also as usual."

"Language, Sasuke!" The Uchiha matron shouted, hitting the back of Sasuke's head.

The male scowled, but said nothing more, turning back to his plate to finish his meal.

"Time is running low to make a decision, mom." He said, after he finished his food, "You will have to make a choice in the next month or two."

"I know, Sasuke, I know. But I don't know if I can do it, this is not a small thing, betraying someones homeland." Mikoto sighed as she said that, leaning back into her chair.

"Well they betrayed us first, we have no reason to support them, besides, we have to find him and bring the Uchiha back to glory!" Sasuke said heatedly.

Mikoto let of another sigh, thinking about her sons words and the plan, presented by this so-called 'Leader', whoever the guy was. It was risky, but deep inside Mikoto knew there actually was only one other choice, death. She wanted her son to live- correction, she wanted her sons to live.

"We haven't got any other choice, Sasuke. I only hope this is the right decision." She said, standing up and leaving for the shrine of her dead husband to pray.

Sasuke was left alone in the room, brooding about one thing or another, with the thought in the back of his mind, that he would see his brother soon.

_Yes, soon._

-End of chapter-

Whoop, that was annoying to write, I'm just gonna upload this, now. Too lazy for corrections, sorry.

Oh, and it seems we have a winner in our little poll, after a glorious comeback against Ayame, Yugito won the poll!

Great, and to think I already had a story for Ayame... Oh, well.

Guess I'll see you next time.

P.S.: If you have any suggestions to improve the story please, PM me, trust me...


	5. Chapter 4 Spark of Revolution

Hello, guys and gals. This is my 5th Chapter and I gotta say... my word count is OVER 9000!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Could anyone explain to me the difference between visitors and hits?

Oh, and I'm gonna redefine the Sharingan, I always hated the overpoweredness of it in the manga so I came up with some balancing, but you won't see that until maybe two chapters ahead.

Also, there's a reason I added Sasuke as a major character on Naruto's side, you'll also see that in about 2 chapters. I know many don't like Sasuke, but I think I found a compromise... There aren't going to be many more characters fighting on Naruto's side, other than the one's you probably already guessed. This fiction will probably end in a skirmish between many sides and I don't want to give Naruto and his Leader too much manpower.

On to the chapter

Chapter 4 Spark of Revolution

Red, malicious eyes glowed in the darkness of the underground passage their owner was walking through silently. The figure, the eyes belonged to, was shrouded in a red-black cloak that seemed to be flowing around it.

The silence was eerie and a sense of foreboding was pushing down on the people inside the corridor, namely two ANBU guards. The two guards shifted nervously, still ignorant of the approaching figure.

The unknown man formed a strange handseal and muttered the name of his jutsu.

**Blaze Style: Spark explosion**

Two red sparks formed around him and flew towards the two unsuspecting ANBU. A small explosion was what followed, engulfing the two heads of the guards in a red fire. The two poor ninja fell to the ground, dead.

The figure moved towards the object the two ANBU were guarding, a big reinforced iron door. But the door was obviously not the object of interest for the shrouded man, rather what lay behind the door.

A silent whisper later and the door melted, leaving a puddle of red gleaming metal on the ground.

The hooded man walked through the archway, seemingly unperturbed of the hot iron at his feet. The area behind the door didn't look very special, as one might think. It was a small room with stone walls, a desk, a bed and a toilet plus sink and mirror.

Lying on the bed, was a fairly old looking man, garbed in filthy common clothes. He had white hair and wrinkled all over his face, but his eyes showed power and wisdom. They looked like the eyes of a hardened veteran and that's exactly what he was.

"Long time no see, old man." The dark figure said in a low and cold voice.

"…" The man remained silent, staring at the disruptor of his eternal rest.

"Not so talkative anymore, I see."

"…"

"I have an offer to make to you."

"…"

"Join me in my endeavors."

"…"

"And I shall rescue the person you love the most."

"What prove do you have, that you will keep your end of the bargain?" The veteran finally said in a hoarse voice, as if he hadn't spoken in years.

The figure chuckled, "what prove do I have that you will keep your end of the bargain?"

"Fine, I will do anything you command, if it will cleanse my past mistakes, master."

"Oh, there's no need for that 'master' and I cannot guarantee that he will be the same. But it's worth a try, isn't it?" The man said, removing his hood to reveal his face.

"You are -"

"Indeed I am, ...Sarutobi."

-0-

"Ok, let's fucking go already!" Naruto shouted, standing in front of the open gates.

Kakashi sighed in exasperation, "language, Naruto"

"You are so immature, Naruto. Sasuke is so much cooler than you are!" Sakura said from the sidelines. Sasuke only grunted at that.

"Okay, team. This is our first C-Ranked mission, so everything must go according to plan. We will travel by tree hopping to quickly get there. Kabutari village is about two days away from here, if we go at maximum speed with three 15 minute breaks and six hours sleep a day, so thats what we will do."

"Yeah, yeah can we get on with this?" Naruto asked in annoyance.

Kakashi ignored him and went on, "Naruto will be at the front, sending clones ahead to scout the area, next in line is Sasuke, incase of a threat you will be able to back up Naruto. Then comes Sakura, you will be able to back me up and also detect Genjutsu ahead and around us. Lastly, I will cover all of you and make sure we aren't followed."

By the time Kakashi finished, Naruto was half asleep and even Sasuke and Sakura were hard pressed to not doze off. Kakashi sweatdropped, _so much for 'everything must go according to plan'._

"Okay, team, let's go!"

That was all the wake up call they needed and Naruto quickly ran off and jumped on the first tree, making Shadow Clones to send out. The others followed just as enthusiastic.

-0-

The group of four was already travelling for one day and something had to happen, yet. Naruto was fairly disappointed.

"Man, this is boring, can't meet some bandits or something?"

"Naruto, it's good that we didn't meet any bandits, they would only delay us." Kakashi said, walking beside Naruto.

They were currently on a 15 minute 'break', but it wasn't much of a break. They ate while walking and never stopped moving. This was especially bad for Sakura, because she had the about the stamina of a 8 year old and constantly slowed the group down. At the moment, she was sleeping peacefully on Kakashi's back.

At some points they passed caravans while tree jumping, but they did so stealthily and now they were walking on a main trade route, which, Naruto remarked, was quite stupid for a ninja. But nevertheless they were doing it and could'nt help it that the caravan 500 meters ahead of them would notice them. That was Sakura's fault, too. She was too tired to do much of anything for at least five hours, and so, Kakashi had to carry her and couldn't tree jump anymore, not even he could move at maximum speed for five hours and be able to fight afterward.

When they passed said caravan, a muffled sound could be heard from inside the carriage, that had the ninjas on alert instantly. It was a scream, of a female. They put two and two together and realized that this was no simple trade caravan, it was a human trade caravan, probably lead by bandits.

"Well, there you have it, Naruto. Bandits to fight." Kakashi said, getting into a combat stance.

The bandits, who also heard the scream and quickly identified Kakashi's group as ninjas, prepared for battle, too.

No one was moving for a moment, everything was silent, even nature, as if anticipating the blood that would be spilled and serve as nutrition for the trees surrounding the combatants.

Then, Sasuke moved, charging at the nearest bandit and throwing kunai at the ones surrounding him. He went in with a kunai strike to the bandits chest, which was blocked by his sword, barely. Two other raiders came in from Sasuke's flanks, but they quickly found themselves on the ground, with shuriken in their necks, courtesy of Naruto, who had also charged the criminals after the Uchiha.

The blond took out two kunai in reverse grip and jumped into a mob of five bandits, surprising them and quickly cutting the tendons of two of them. The others had their respective weapons already in hand, a mace, a sword and a simple dagger.

Naruto ducked under the horizontal sword strike approaching him and thrust his hands on the ground, creating enough energy to propel him into the air and avoid the heavy, spiked metal club, that made a dent in the ground were he was previously.

The Uzumaki landed with one foot on either side of the sword wielding bandit's head, twisting it until his neck snapped. Then he jumped off the dead man's shoulder, driving his foot into the chest of the mace wielder, his momentum and strength throwing the poor bandit ten feet, he didn't get up.

Being the only one left of the five, the bandit sporting a knife tried a sneak attack, while his enemies back was turned to him. Unfortunately for the bandit, sneaking up on a ninja is futile, which he quickly learned and also quickly forgot again, a kunai sticking out of his right eye.

Naruto looked around himself, there were bodies of bandits lying around and Kakashi was already freeing the slaves, who were gathering in small groups. The rookie genin made his way over to a carriage and pulled away the drapes that hung over the entrance at the back, inspecting the inside. There were six girls, about two or three years older than him, they looked underfed and had bruises all over their bodies, but Naruto suspected that beatings weren't the only kind of abuse that these girls had to suffer from. He quickly cut the ropes, that bound them to the carriage and helped them up and out of the vehicle, one after another.

"Th-thank you, f-for saving us f-from th-them." One of the girls, who looked the most confident, said while sobbing tears of relieve. The others tearily thanked Naruto to, although with more difficulty, some of them too hoars from screaming or lack of fully functional vocal cords.

The blond let them thank him, but wasn't really interested in gratitude, it was his job to kill bandits and free their captives, after all.

While the former slaves were conversing, Kakashi thought of what to do with them, _well, there are only two options, kill them and save them from more suffering, or escort them back to Konoha, but we haven't got them time for that. Maybe...yes that's what I'll do._

The silver-haired jonin raised his voice, vocalizing his thoughts, "okay listen up, we are going to escort you all to a patrolled area not too far from here and there you will wait for a patrol to bring you to Konoha. I will give one of you a scroll, you'll have to give that to the patrol, before they will escort you."

With that, the team of four shinobi positioned themselves strategically(1) around the former captives, with Kakashi at the front, leading the way.

End of Chapter

(1) Is that a word?

Yes, I know, it's short (the shortest yet, actually) and kind of fillery, but that's life...sort of.

If you are wondering why Naruto speaks so little in this chapter, he takes combat situations very seriously, especially with hostages and speaking is unnecessary.

And in the first scene at the end, the old man is Sarutobi, not the savior, thought that could be confusing.

Oh, and you might have noticed how my Chapter names don't really describe the whole chapter. I only name important twists and plot developments and want to create a pattern, you will maybe understand further into the story, but probably not. Also, I want the names to sound cool...

See ya


	6. Chapter 5: Enigmatic Puppet

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I made a major change in the style of the prologue, which won't affect the plot much, but still was important for me to do, as the first take on the prologue was, in hindsight, weak. I hope it's all better now.

'Sup, I know I kind of neglected this story, but whatever I won't make any excuses, I was too lazy. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Theres a bit of plot development, some raving from Naruto and a short fight, with the Leader in it!

Oh, remember what I said about the sharingan? No? Good. You can safely forget until the second arc of this story, there'll be some mentions of it, but it will not be major.

Chapter 5: Enigmatic Puppet

Kabutari village was a nice place, Naruto decided as he walked through the streets. It was quiet and close to nature and he liked that, but there was an air of doom around this place, which of course, was why they were here. He wondered about that for a minute. The mission to Kabutari village was a decoy, made by his master to get Kakashi out of the village to a remote place where it would be easy to talk to him, so there was actually nothing to worry about.

But the reports from the mayor said differently. There were three more attacks while they were traveling. Something must have went out of control, which was impossible with his master, so someone else must have been in charge of this mission.

Naruto snorted. Why his master would send some incompetent fool to do, what was possibly a key charade in their Konoha campaign, was a mystery to him, but it couldn't be helped. Now _he_ had to sort out this mess.

It was probably because of their other, admittedly more major campaign, that his Leader was currently unavailable. The Red Dawn was an annoying and unpredictable enemy to have, but it couldn't be helped.

The last attacks on the village were not of simple bandits or Ronins, but had obvious signs of ninja involvement. What a ninja would gain by attacking a village and kidnapping children in the process was also a mystery to Naruto, but something was foul about this whole mess and his allies were not the only ones involved.

Naruto just hoped his boss would hurry up and come, whatever was taking him from this mission, was taking too long.

-0-

Screams echoed through the underground halls the Leader was walking through casually, Sarutobi Hiruzen behind him, staring at the ninja that were randomly incinerating before his eyes.

More ninja, bearing the Konoha symbol were closing in on them from all sides, but the Leader calmly placed his hands in a handseal and muttered his Jutsu.

**Blaze style: Spark Revolution**

Tiny shards of red fire escaped his body and rushed against the opposing shinobi. Small, super-heated explosions were what followed. Wherever the sparks touched, small red suns consumed the area around it. The enemies tried to dodge around them, but only four made it.

The remaining ninja formed their handseals and called out together,

**Water style: Rising Water Dragon**

**Earth style: Crushing Mud Dragon**

**Fire style: Raging Fire Dragon**

**Wind style: Howling Wind Dragon**

The four differently composed dragons of the elements rushed at the two intruders all from different angles.

The Leader looked at Sarutobi and nodded slightly. They both sprang to action instantly, forming handseals faster than the naked eye could see. They both finished at the same time and bellowed:

**Earth style: Great Mud Wall**

Two walls, forming from mud, rose on either side of the two, creating a protective sphere around them. The four jutsu opposing them crashed into their shield and were negated, but destroyed the walls in the process.

Two shadows jumped out of the dust cloud that formed around the epicenter of the jutsus.

The Leader closed in on his target, which was still recovering from the shock, induced by the sheer power of his enemy, and cut his throat cleanly. Another ninja, who recovered from his shock quicker than his comrade, jumped at the Leader from behind and tried to stab his heart with a kunai, but his efforts were quickly thwarted as the Leader turned around and grabbed his wrist. He tried to kick him in the side of his head, but was blocked by an elbow. The Leader used this opening to throw a punch at the ninjas gut, with bone-shattering force. The ninja didn't get up again.

The Leader turned around and saw that Sarutobi was finished with his load as well. He beckoned him to come with him.

They reached a big oak door, which was quickly blown open to reveal a large throne room. There were pipes going through the walls, just like in the rest of the complex. Training equipment stood all around the room, which indicated that this was were their target most likely was.

And he was.

There, kneeling beside a throne, was Konohamaru Sarutobi, grandson to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Konohamaru!" Hiruzen shouted in joy, "You're alright!"

"Indeed he is." Answered the figure sitting on the throne.

-0-

"Well, this is curious."

The team of Konoha Ninja was standing in front the last attacked building, inspecting it for any clues that could help them in their mission.

There were no signs of any fight at all, which usually meant that shinobi were involved, when dealing with attacks on civilians, but there where still traces of chakra around the building. Actually, not only that one building was laced in chakra, but the neighboring buildings as well, although nothing at all happened to the inhabitants of said buildings.

The only sign that a happy family of three once lived in that house, were the bodies of the two parents lying in their bed, with cut throats.

"Ok, this is clearly more than a C-Ranked mission, we should head back and let a more experienced team handle it."

"No! We can't do that, think of all the people that would die in the time it takes for that, we can't let that happen."

Of course, that wasn't the real reason Naruto wanted to stay and both he and Kakashi knew that, but he had a point and his two teammates found themselves agreeing with him. Sasuke because he didn't want to miss this chance to prove his worth and Sakura because Sasuke didn't want to leave, although she was quite scared of taking part in such a highly risky mission.

"Alright," Kakashi sighed, "we'll stay and do this mission, but you will obey my every command, otherwise we're outta here."

Naruto pumped his fist in the air in joy. _Phew, that was close, did he forget why we're here in the first place? I hope boss hurries the fuck up._

"Okay, we need a plan, any suggestions?"

"When did you say the attacks always happened?" Naruto asked the village chief, who was standing a little behind the ninja to let them work.

"Well, every second night since they started, I don't know the exact time, because we only ever discovered there was another in the morning, but in the last attack, yesterday, I and some others heard some strange sounds around midnight."

Naruto's face was blank, "and you didn't investigate that, because...?"

The man fidgeted nervously, clearly discomforted by the question. "because I was scared, obviously, I couldn't do anything against a ninja! That's your job!"

"Some village chief you are...," Naruto muttered.

"Give it a rest Naruto." Kakashi said quietly, "Well, the best way to catch someone in the act is to be the target. And guess who's lucky enough to play a happily married couple with a child!"

Naruto groaned.

-0-

"You!"

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed at the person sitting on the throne. He had brown hair and one brown eye, the other was bandaged. His chin was emblazoned with a cross scar and he wore a black cloak over his white outfit, that only showed one of his arms, the other appeared to be crippled, as well as his legs, indicated by the cane he had in his healthy hand.

"Good to see you, old friend. Care to introduce me to you companion?" Danzo Shimura said casually, apparently ignoring the fact that his forces were defeated and his base half destroyed.

"There's no need for that." The Leader spoke in a low, dangerous voice. "I'm only here to kill you, no time for pleasantries."

"Hahaha. I like you already, I'll enjoy destroying you and then taking your power for myself." Danzo replied, getting up and undoing the bandages around his right eye, revealing a Sharingan.

"Monster." Sarutobi whispered, his eyes on the Sharingan.

"I like to think of it as a tool I gained, for all my hard work."

"Enough." The Leader said, drawing kunai with both hands and throwing them at Danzo.

**Shadow Kunai Technique**

The two kunai multiplied and now there was a whole barrage of kunai flying at Danzo. His thumb was below the top of his cane, unsheathing a hidden blade, with which Danzo quickly blocked the incoming kunai.

"Really, the Sharingan is amazing isn't it?"

He was cut off from saying anything else as he heard something hissing. He was consumed by a huge explosion, as every kunai he had blocked exploded.

"Futile."

Danzo appeared out of the smoke, unharmed. His right arm was now uncovered and made a disgusting sight. Implanted on his right arm, were ten Sharingan eyes, that rolled around uncontrolled, looking at the combatants from time to time, but that was not the worst. On the shoulder of the 'Sharingan arm' was a face, a face recognized as Hashirama Senju.

'So that's his game? We'll just have to wait long enough.' Leader thought to himself, "Sarutobi, we'll need to work together, I can't fight against Izanagi alone."

Sarutobi's eyes widened in realization, then narrowed again, prepared to fight.

'Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram'

**Summoning Technique**

Two voices cried, before there was a huge puff of smoke, concealing Danzo's opponents, so only four shadows could be seen, three humanoid, and one, huge, reptilian.

Danzo's Sharingan eye, the one in an actual eye socket, looked closely at the quickly diminishing smoke cloud, only for it to widen, once the smoke completely faded away.

The Leader stood atop a big salamander, staring down Danzou, his eyes glowing behind his hood. Next to him was Hiruzen and standing behind him was Enma, the boss summon of the monkey contract.

Danzo decided, this would not be an easy battle after all, even if Hiruzen's skill was dulled throughout the years of incarceration, the others skills and strenght was entirely unknown to him and they had a clear numerical advantage.

"Well, I suppose now is a good time to put my tool to good use, it was a pleasure meeting you again, Hiruzen, ...Hanzou."

And with that remark, one of the Sharingan eyes began to close, just as its lids would meet, Danzou faded out of existence.

The boy, still kneeling a few feet away from the crater that was once a throne, stood up, seemingly unperturbed by the previous events. He formed a few seals with his hands, almost too fast for the remaining occupants of the room to see, and uttered his jutsu.

**Summoning Technique**

-0-

Far away from Konoha, Naruto, in the form of a thirty something, pretty woman, awoke with a start, an uneasy feeling in his stomach, that he couldn't quite place.

Kakashi had forced the team to poise as a married couple, with Naruto acting as the wife, Sasuke acting as the father and Sakura acting as the child. None of them were pleased with that plan, especially Sakura, who had a tracking seal on her, for the others to follow when she was 'kidnapped'.

A window suddenly shattered and a dark shadow came into the two story house that they were in. A flash of metal and Naruto felt a second mouth opening up a few inches under his first.

-End of Chapter-

Tell me what you think in a review, I would really appreciate it.

And to anyone who guessed the Leader was Hanzou...well you don't get a cookie.

Until next time,

TheDarkFragment


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